Unforgettable
by TheCanadianSpaniard97
Summary: Lily Potter is starting her fifth year at Hogwarts and things go slightly different than she hd planned. Her love life gets messed up and she ends up with the person she didn't expect to. Rated T just to be safe
1. An Unexpected Visitor

Chapter 1

An Unexpected Visitor

The days were really hot that summer. The sun was so bright, my face actually became freckled. My brothers James and Al always had freckles, no matter the season. Our house didn't have air conditioning because it was one of those old ones that my dad's godfather used to live in. I should say that my father is the famous Harry Potter who defeated Voldemort when he was just three years older than me. Yes, I said Voldemort. My dad always says there's no use in fearing a name. He makes a good point. My mom, Ginny Potter is his best friend Ron's sister. Uncle Ron is tall and gangly and has a long nose with tons of orange freckles. Mine are brown. I'm getting really off topic about the hot summer here. My brothers and I spent most of our time on our brooms flying as fast as we could to get a cool breeze. We did until one of our neighbours saw us and our mother grounded us.

My family is so huge! Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur still live in Shell Cottage, since they only have one daughter. But she doesn't even live with them anymore. Victoire is married to Teddy, my dad's godson. Uncle George and Aunt Alicia live in a very big house, almost a mansion. I find it funny how their children are identical to his family. Six boys, one girl. They have two sets of twins instead of one though. Let's see, there are Fred (in honour of his twin brother who died), Craig, Ashley and Jamie, Sean, Mark and Peter. Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione have two, Rose and Hugo. Uncle Percy and Aunt Penelope have four. Their names are Michael, Josh, Nathan and Alex. Aunt Alicia is American and misses the US a lot. Uncle Charlie and his wife, Pauline live in Romania with their seven kids, their names are: Timothy, Glen, Luke, Justin, Shayna, Tilly and Billy (the last three are triplets). Most of my cousins are guys as you can tell.

On the evening my grounding had been lifted I got an unexpected guest. I was lying on the grass in our backyard when I heard a rustling in the bush. "Who's there?" I called out. Out of nowhere came Scorpius. He was panting, scratched and blood was soaking through his shirt in many places. Scorpius Malfoy is my dad's least favourite friend of mine. He hates his father, but he tries very hard to give Scorpius the benefit of the doubt. My uncle on the other hand will not. He had even set up and anti-Malfoy protective something or other to guard his house. I wasn't very surprised by Scorpius' appearance. My father, since he was away, had set some kind of security in the forest. "What the- What was that?" he said. When he saw my face he exclaimed, "Blimey, Lily. Do you know what that was? Maybe your dad has it in for me. He stepped in to the moonlight and I got a better look at him. The sun had made his face even more freckled than mine. He was slightly tanned too. His grey eyes looked as though they'd seen a ghost. To be honest he looked pretty cute with his freckles and tan. His scratched face sort of ruined the effect though. I tried to apologise, "No, my father put some enchantments on the place. I'm so sorry. You should come inside and I'll clean you up. My parents are out"

"Thanks," he said a grateful look on his face.

We went inside. He looked ten times worse in the dimly lit kitchen. I got out wash cloth and soaked it in warm water. "Take your shirt off," I ordered.

"What!" He practically yelled looking taken aback.

"I can't wash all those cuts when you still have your shirt on. Take it off."

"What's all this commotion in...? James saw Scorpius and yelled, "What's he doing here?"

"Baking a cake. Get out!" I said shooing him out.

"Why should I? Who knows what this guy will do when I leave."

"Can't we get some peace and quiet in this house?" Al stumbled into the room looking half asleep and really annoyed. "I have a terrible headache. What's all the fuss about anyways?"

"Why don't you just take a look at what the cat dragged in?"

"Malfoy? What are you doing here? Augh! And why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

"Because I'm cleaning his wounds you idiot! Now get out all of you!"

I wringed out the cloth and pressed it against a scratch dangerously close to his heart. He flinched and I said, "Sorry!"

"It's okay. I didn't know you lived here actually. My dad and I were traveling to Diagon Alley and ended up in this forest. He realized that we weren't in the right place and Disapparated from the spot immediately. I accidently let go of his hand."

"I'm glad you showed up. It's been a very boring summer. I wish there was a pond or something so I could go swimming. Won't your father be worried about you?

"Not really. It's happened before and since I know where we were supposed to meet I can just take the Knight Bus. And I'm already sixteen so there's no need to make a big fuss about it, according to him."

"How's your summer been?"

"Boring. Nothing exciting has happened ever since I helped you escape from that maniac."

"Helped? You saved my life. You carried me all the way to safety and called out for help until a Ministry wizard came and took me to St. Mungos."

We were talking about a wizard who had gone insane and thought he was Lord Voldemort and had tried to kill me because my last name was Potter. I'd never really liked Scorpius until that day. Except there had been the time when that same wizard had cursed the Sorting Hat to put me into Slytherin and Scorpius had helped me discover the mystery about him.

A sudden memory came to me. That had been my first year at Hogwarts. The year I'd opened presents with Scorpius and had faked to get mad at him for not buying me anything. What had he said again? Oh yes, I remember. He said, and I quote, "You really want a present from me? I'm sorry I can't give it to you. You're only in your first year here at Hogwarts. Wait a few years." I had been so confused. I still was. I mean, what's "Wait a couple of years" supposed to mean.

He looked like he was thinking too.

"Well, the bleeding should stop soon." I said trying to break the silence.

"What? Oh, right!"

"I'll have to wash your shirt before you put it back on again, though. Dried blood can be very uncomfortable."

I took his shirt and headed upstairs to give it to James so he could wash it using magic. It would still take a while even with a spell. Blood stains very badly. Not to my surprise, Al and James did a terrible job to make it look like they hadn't been eavesdropping. Al was whistling and James had picked up one of Mum's magazines.

"You know you're reading that upside down, right?"

"Yes. It's a special article that has to be read upside down."

"I'm sure it is. Can you wash this?"

"Why should I?"

"Because you're the only one here who isn't underage. Please!"

"Fine," he grumbled.

I went back into the kitchen and wet the cloth again. I knew that if I didn't keep cleaning his cuts they could get infected. Of course, all of this could've been solved in a matter of seconds if my mum had told me where she kept all the magical medicine. Since she was gone I had to cure him the Muggle way, knowing James would refuse to use magic to cure someone he hated. "Does it hurt too much?" I asked, trying not to let my mind wander again.

"No, it's starting to feel better. Again, thank you."

"It's no trouble. I should probably warn you that my brothers are probably using Extendable Ears to hear the whole conversation we're having."

"They don't need to do that. You can take care of yourself."

"I know right? Sometimes I wish they were girls."

"Al and James would make weird girl names."

I laughed, "They would, wouldn't they."

"It's kind of warm in here. Do you want to go outside?"

"Okay."

We went outside. All the stars were out and it was a beautiful night. I kept healing Scorpius' cuts outside. Some of the colour started to return to his face. I remembered the time one of my best friends Jeremy, had almost bled to death. His face had gotten all clammy and grey. What had happened was that he had fallen into a pit full of jagged rocks. It had been a terrifying experience.

Another time, Will had been imperiused. Someone tried to get him to rob Gringotts bank. Ministry wizards and goblins had had to go in there and get him out. My friends and I were magnets for life threatening experiences. Especially, when Sri had tried to go into the Forbidden Forest in our first at Hogwarts, it's a long story. Somehow this made me think of Scorpius' present remark. I couldn't stand it any longer.

"Scorpius?" I said, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"Yes?" he responded.

"Well remember in our first year at Hogwarts when you told me to wait for your gift? I was wondering what you meant."

"Hmm... I guess the best way to explain it, it to give to you. Are you sure you want it?"

"I guess..."

But before anything could happen Al came outside and sat in between us. "Hey guys! How's it going?"

"Fine," said Scorpius, rolling his eyes. I could feel the tension in the air between the two of them.

"Well, since my headache is cleared up, I thought we could all have dinner together. And it's such a nice night it would be a waste to eat inside. We can eat out here. Scorpius and I will set up the tables and you and James can make the food."

"I don't really think it safe to leave the two of you alone in each other's company." I said cautiously.

"Well I feel the same way about you two."

"I can take care of myself okay? You don't mind it when I and Will are alone or when I and Jeremy are alone but you care when I'm alone with Scorpius just because you hate him! Well I have news for you. He's my friend. AND HE SAVED MY LIFE!"

James ran out with the food. He doesn't like it when Al and I fight. Conjuring up a table, his face was nervous. Our parents wouldn't be home until a couple of days. They had gone to Italy for a week. Scorpius still wasn't wearing his shirt and I thought that James hadn't bothered to start cleaning his shirt.

Dinner was tense. No one dared to talk, but Al and Scorpius exchanged frequent glares. It was all too much for James and he went to go get pudding (chocolate cake). Again, the air was tense as we ate until I asked, "James, is Scorpius' shirt clean?"

"I'm sorry but I doubt it won't be clean until tomorrow. Blood stains are really hard to clean, even with magic."

"How did you get your shirt that way, Malfoy?" Al asked half mockingly, pronouncing "Malfoy" as if it were a contagious disease.

"Your father's security, Potter. My father and I got here by mistake and he left without even noticing I had let go of his hand."

"Aw. Were you scared? Is that why daddy needed to hold your hand?"

"We were Side-Along Apparating."

"I'm sure you were."

"All right that's it!" I screamed. They both looked t me in surprise. "Stop bickering. It gets annoying when two out of four people eating together start to bicker. Really, it's time for you to grow up!" I got up and stalked away. I couldn't stand heir constant fights or the lack of trust Al had in me.

I had gone into the forest when I heard a twig snap "Who is it?" I said.

"Me." I heard Scorpius in the shadows. "Can I join you?"

"Whatever."

He walked towards me looking guilty and sat down. "I'm sorry."

"I overreacted. You two don't like each other. In fact, you hate one another! I can understand."

"You still don't deserve to hear us constantly fighting and insulting each other. I'm really sorry. Please forgive me."

"All right I forgive you. But you have to get me something extra special for my birthday. It's..." I looked at my wristwatch, "today." It marked midnight.

He sat looking thoughtful for a couple of minutes then said, "I don't know if you'll like it. But here."

He took out a small package from a pocket in his ripped jeans. I looked at it curiously and opened it. It was small ring that had a button that when pressed would fill everything within ten feet of it with silvery lights that looked like Patronuses. I had seen them in a store once. "It's beautiful!" I exclaimed.

"Do you like it?" he asked looking uncertain. "I was going to give it to you on the first day of school.

"I love it thanks."

I wrapped him in a hug. He looked around and said, "I have to go. You can give me my shirt back on the first of September. I'll see you then." He pulled away a bit but didn't let go. I wondered why. My question was answered seconds later when I felt his warm dry lips against my cold wet ones. He took a couple of steps closer to the house before saying, "Goodbye. Happy Birthday." Then he sprinted towards the front lawn. A loud bang announced the arrival of the Knight Bus that would take him to the Leaky Cauldron.

I'm sure my face was pink. I smiled and lay down on the grass. I knew that no matter what happened in the rest of the day, it had been the best Birthday ever.


	2. My Birthday

Chapter 2

My Birthday

I woke up way too early on August the seventh. I still couldn't believe that my parents had gone on holidays over a period of time that fell on my birthday. I woke up in a bit of an annoyed mood. Then I remembered the night's happenings. That cheered me up a reasonable amount, or had it been a dream? I looked at my hand and saw the ring. Now I definitely knew it wasn't a dream. It had all been real.

I went downstairs beaming and Al asked, "What are you so happy about?"

"Oh, I just had a good dream that's all."

"Okay, whatever."

"Happy Birthday, my present's outside," called James from the kitchen, his favourite room. Outside a beautiful gift was waiting for me. It was a Lightning Strike 3000. The best broom out there. "Is that for me?" I cried out, surprised.

"Yes, it is," replied James, looking extremely satisfied with himself.

"But, I don't even play Quidditch."

"I know, but you still like riding on brooms."

Al came outside and said, "Oh come on, James! How am I supposed to top that?"

"Al it's the thought that counts." I said beaming.

"Right, well my gift is inside so, come on."

We walked back inside and Al handed me a box with holes in it. Curiosity overwhelmed me as I opened it. I looked inside and a baby dragon popped out her head. I accidentally dropped the box screaming, "Augh! You got me a dragon?"

"Yeah, I did. He was just so cute in the store I had to get him."

"I don't think Mum and Dad will let me keep her."

". I already asked them. How do you know it's a girl?"

"Here, check for yourself."

"Oooooh..." he said going slightly red with embarrassment. "What are you going to name her?"

"Hmm..." I was really drawing a blank. I mean, what do you name a female dragon? "How about...Alexandrite?"

"It sounds like a guy name."

"I like it. She's mine so I can name her."

"It is a very nice name," commented James.

Alexandrite made a little screech that only baby dragons can. I looked at her. She was a Norwegian Ridgeback. I wondered why Al would get me such a weird gift. I mean, if it had been Hagrid, our god father I would understand, but Al? I bet that it had something to do with well... something. She gave me what looked like a smile. I smiled back, beginning to love my new pet.

"Oh no! What will the Ministry say? It's kind of hard to hide a fifty foot high dragon and I doubt Dad's old Invisibility Cloak won't cover her when she's fully grown."

"Duh! Mum and Dad have gotten special permission from the Minister himself. Dad can get anything he wants at the Ministry just because he's famous," pointed out James.

"I suppose the fact Uncle Percy's Minister has nothing to do with it." I said

"Oh yeah," he remembered sheepishly

"I should take her outside. I bet Uncle Charlie would be scandalized if he found out I had a pet dragon. Maybe we shouldn't tell him."

"I can see him saying 'That is so dangerous! Having a dragon for a pet, what was Hagrid thinking!'" I giggled. He did tend to overreact.

We heard a noise and looked up. A big snowy owl was carrying a large package. Sherum, my parents' snowy owl, landed on the table with a loud _thud. _He put out his leg and I untied the package. Poor Sherum just about had a heart attack when he saw Alexandrite.I got some food for him and gave him some water. "Hurry up, Lily! I want to see what Mum and Dad got you," said Al impatiently. I tore the wrapping paper off the package and found a book inside called _Girl's Guide to Boys. _I wrinkled my nose. What was the point of getting me a- "It's a Muggle book!" yelled Al as if it were the end of the world. "Calm down Al, it's just a book. Who cares if the pictures don't move? You do know that there are twenty eight people coming over this evening, right? And they're all wizards so don't get too scandalized yet."

"Twenty eight people, so, Victoire and Teddy are coming after all? I haven't seen them in ages!"

"Me too, Oooooh, Victoire will be so big now!"

"Girly moment alert!" said James, entering the kitchen. He had been taking Alexandrite outside and was covered in burn marks. I guessed that even though she was just a baby she could be quite ferocious. "Shut up, James!" I laughed, playfully aiming a punch at him.

At eight people started arriving. Uncle Charlie and his kids didn't come because they still live in Romania, but they had invited us for Christmas and they would give us all our Christmas and birthday gifts then and so would we. First, Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione, Rose and Hugo came. Rose is tall with red hair and blue eyes, but Hugo is short with brown hair and brown eyes. Hugo's fifteen (like me), and Rose is almost seventeen.

Afterwards Uncle George came. Aunt Alicia was sick though, so she didn't come. Craig's nineteen, with red hair and gray eyes (almost everyone in my family has red hair); Ashley and Jamie are twins and they're both sixteen with red hair (of course) and brown eyes; Sean's fourteen and he also has red hair and brown eyes; Fred's thirteen, but he's turning fourteen in December while Sean was born in January, he has hazel eyes and red hair; Mark and Peter are twelve and have blond hair and blue eyes.

Next Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur came. Fleur looked dashing in a brown shirt and pink skirt. Uncle Bill had actually cut his hair ("Oh no! What'd you do that for?" exclaimed Al) and was wearing his usual casual clothing. After them were Victoire and Teddy, and I had been right. Victoire was huge! "I'm having twins," she explained. Teddy's hair was a neon lime green (as it always was when he was excited). I smiled at the fact he was so happy about being a future father.

Uncle Percy and Aunt Penelope had given Jeremy, Sri and Will a ride. All his sons have red hair. Michael's twenty one, identical to Bill with very long hair and brown eyes; Josh is eighteen with glasses framing his grey eyes ; Nathan's sixteen, he wears green glasses that clash terribly with his blue eyes and he's as tall as Michael; Alex's fourteen with green eyes and freckles all over the place. Will, Jeremy and Sri are my best friends, they're all my age. Will Sumter's like Nathan, so tall he looks like he's seventeen instead of fourteen; he's got blue eyes and auburn hair. Jeremy Jordan is Lee Jordan's son. He's a bit taller than me with brown hair, brown eyes, much tanned skin and he's covered in freckles. Sri Creevey is Dennis Creevey's daughter; her blond hair highly contrasts with her brown eyes, her nose is filled with orange freckles and she's slightly shorter than me.

"Thanks for coming everyone!" I said hugging each person and giving my aunts a kiss on the cheek. We all sat down at tables that all the over age but not parents, conjured. Aunt Fleur had baked a splendid looking cake and Aunt Alicia had made a bunch of other sweets and treats. The cake Fleur had brought was shaped like a Lily and was decorated with white icing. Written in blue frosting ("To match your _beauteeful _eyes," had said Fleur) was _Happy 15th Birthday Lily_. Even though my parents weren't there I had a really great time. All the cousins played about twenty games of Exploding Snap.

At around half ten, everyone wanted to watch me open gifts. Since I don't really like people staring at me it was the most awkward half an hour since that time in my first year when Scorpius had lead me to the Room of Requirement and forgot to let go of my hand. I got too many gifts to even list them all here. That tends to happen to everyone in our family. Out of all my gifts, my favourite was still Scorpius'.

Since I was describing people earlier, I should describe my own two brothers. James' nineteen, has red hair (surprise, surprise!) brown eyes and rectangular shaped glasses. Dad feels terrible that James inherited his eyesight. Al's name is actually Albus but we call him Al for short. He's very skinny and identical to my father, except for the fact that he doesn't wear glasses. He's seventeen in November. I'm fifteen and have red hair and blue eyes. Just like my Uncle Ron.

Sri and I had decided earlier that day that she would stay at my place until the beginning of school and our parents had obliged. "Oh, crap!" she cried out. "I've left my things at home! I am such an idiot."

I grinned evilly and looked at James. I knew he had been fancying Sri for a while because I'd overheard him telling Al. "James can get them for you," I beamed. Tons of other people could have done it but I had known that James would be more than willing to. "James! Can you summon Sri's things for her? You're nineteen in October and passed you're NEWTs with flying colours. Even Sri agrees." I added giggling to myself. Sri pinched my arm hard and whispered, "Shut up!" in my ear, turning scarlet. Grinning at the chance to impress her he waved his wand and a trunk full of her stuff appeared and he looked surprised. "Sri, how long are you staying!"

She looked a bit hurt, "Until the beginning of school."

We went upstairs to my room, the one that used to belong to Regulus Black. I'd set up another bed for Sri to sleep in. I sat on my bed and beckoned Sri to sit beside me. She sat on my bed, fuming. "You're brother's a jerk, you know! He didn't have to be so rude. Ugh!"

"He's just doing because he fancies you," I said before clamping my hand over my mouth to stifle a sudden giggle attack that had overcome me. I could just picture James telling a girl he actually loved her. Then I couldn't help but burst out laughing. Sri looked at me sceptically and crossed her arms. "What's so funny about that? Well except for the fact that it isn't true at all."

"Oh, it's just something this friend told me. Sorry."

Sri crossed her legs and smiled at me. "You're a funny one, Lily Potter. No wonder why Scorpius looks at you like that at lunch." Now it was her turn to clamp her hand over her mouth. I acted as if Scorpius hadn't kissed me less than twenty four hours earlier. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, never mind. You didn't hear anything, okay?"

"Right."

I wondered what to say. There were lots of things I didn't know about Sri. She was really mysterious; she usually sat and listened to me rant about things. So I decided to get the most girly question that had been haunting me for a while. "So Sri, have any boys caught your eye?"

She looked at me, slightly embarrassed. "Well... yes but I'd rather not say. It's kind of embarrassing."

"Come on, please, please, please tell me!"

"All right! Stop begging and I'll tell you." I shut up immediately. "It's... it's your oldest brother, James." She said in hurry as if that would make a difference. I pretended to react. "Wow! You like James? I just never thought of either of you actually liking each other that way!" I hoped it had been convincing. Apparently it was, because she blushed and hid her face in my pillow. I sighed and said, "That'll just make your face redder." I heard a muffled "Whatever" and felt a pillow hit my face. I laughed and threw it back at Sri.

We talked well into the night. Right until a very grumpy looking Al came in our room and just screamed at us to shut up and saying that he would "never understand why girls chose to talk late at night when there's plenty of day" Sri and I had looked at each other and got a sudden attack of the giggles covering our mouths so that we wouldn't wake Al up again and make him murder us. "I'd hate to have Al locked up in Azkaban," I said. And then I realized that it had truly been one of the most wonderful birthdays in the world.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Diagon Alley

I woke up the next morning to very loud snores. Looking around and realizing that it was Sri, I laughed. Actually I laughed way too loudly which made Sri sat bolt right up in her bed looking around for the source of the noise. Then again, she could have been having a nightmare. I'll never know. She looked at me and sighed with relief. "For a second I thought I was in a stranger's house." She said sheepishly.

James stumbled in to wake us up. So far, I haven't given you a very clear picture of James' personality. He's identical to how my grandfather was, apparently. Dad's not very happy about it because he thinks some of things he does are really wrong. Well, that is, unless James is around me. He is the most protective brother in the world. He looked at Sri and turned scarlet. His hair was a mess. Sri looked equally embarrassed, quickly brushing her messy hair with her fingers. I smiled at the thought that they both cared so much about the other's opinion.

The three of us went to wake up Al. I poked him in the side and said, "Wake up and stop being a vegetable." He just rolled over and groaned. James pointed t his temple to show that he had an idea. He took out his wand and whispered, "_Aguamenti_," and a spout of water shot out of the end. Al jumped and fell off the bed. "Hey, not cool. That stuff's cold." He huffed.

"Hey, not cool?" James echoed. "You've been hanging around with Nathan, haven't you? Since when do you use such American expressions?"

"Shut up!" he groaned. "Isn't it enough that you gave me a cold, now you have to make fun of me?"

Sri and exchanged glances and silently agreed to leave. We headed downstairs and Sri tripped over something that let out a tiny screech. The same one I had heard yesterday. "Oooooh, Alexandrite, what on earth are you doing inside?" I said, picking her up, ready to scold her. Sri looked at me, horrified. "Is- is that a dragon?" she asked.

"Yes, it is." I answered trying to hold Alexandrite still. Finally she let out a puff of smoke and went to sleep. I looked at her curiously, seconds before she had squirming like crazy. Alexandrite looked very peaceful, curled up in my arms and decided to lay her down on the pile of dirty clothes.

Sri looked reproachfully at Alexandrite and sat down at the table, not taking her eyes off her. Finally, when Al put the food on the table, she looked away. I gave her a don't-you-trust-me? Face and she returned an I-do-but-isn't-a-dragon-a-bit-much? face. James and Al looked between us, apparently confused. They both looked at each with I'll-never-understand-how-girls-communicate-with-looks-so-easily faces. Sri and I looked at each other and busted up. They had just done what they found so confusing without realizing it.

We went outside to the backyard and sat in the grass, still giggling like mad. "Does Alexandrite really worry you?" I said. "She's fine if I hold her, but I don't think she likes James. Al's never tried to hold her so she might like him." I looked at Sri until she sighed and relaxed. I don't know why she as so worried, it's not like my dragon would just unexpectedly attack my best friend.

Sri sat in one of our lounge chairs and leaned back. Smiling she said, "I love your house. I'm so glad I'm spending the rest of the hols here. It would've been so boring to stay with my parents in our flat." She sighed and looked around with a satisfied look on her face. I had to admit that our backyard was very nice. Then I imagined what it would look like when I got back from school next summer. I was sure that at least a quarter of our humongous property would be taken up by my new pet.

A couple of days later my parents got home. They're arms were full of souvenirs from China, where they had visited their friends, Lee and Cho Shinn. My dad passed Alexandrite without a second glance, patting her slightly on the head. My mum did the same. Mum saw us and gave us all a big kiss on the cheek, including Sri. To Mum all of our friends are family. Dad came in a few seconds later and gave everyone a hug. I thanked them for their gift and they said there was another present, but I would have to wait until we went to Diagon Alley to get it.

Mum made lunch and let me just say it was wonderful to eat _real_ food after all that time of James cooking. Mum's boiled potatoes are the best.

Everyone was talking very lively. Al and Dad were having a discussion about how Seekers have one of the hardest jobs while playing Quidditch. "And if Gryffindor team is losing, all the pressure's on me to help win the game. Or if we need to win by a certain amount of points, I have to wait to get the Snitch, but what if that stupid Gerald Lynch gets it first? Everyone's mad at me and..." James and Sri were talking about my Uncle's joke shop and how James was going to work there when school started. "I could probably get you all the free stuff you wanted. Of course, I'd get Lily and Al bunches of merchandise too..." It was weird to see them talking so freely and I guessed that Sri had finally decided that her turning red and looking away whenever she caught his eye wouldn't make him like her any better. Mum was trying to get me to talk about my birthday party but I kept tuning out, remembering the night before my birthday. I wondered if my mum would get it out me sooner or later. Better later than sooner I thought. Wondering how long it would take her to find out I didn't realize that she had asked me another question. I jumped then nodded and said, "Oh, yeah, right."

James was the first in bed. He said that he had needed tons of sleep ever since Mum and Dad left because Al and I were keeping him on his toes. As if! A short while later Sri said she was tired too. I let her go up to bed, she knew my parents well enough to know that if she didn't leave soon she would probably have to stay up all night. Or did it have something to do with James? Of course it didn't! But I couldn't help getting a bit suspicious. I know, I know, I don't trust my friend as much as I should, so sue me!

At around quarter to four in the morning I was so tired I just about passed out and went up to be too. When I got in my room Sri wasn't there so I guessed she had gone to the bathroom. I fell asleep as soon as I hit my pillow. I dreamt I was in the Hogwarts grounds with Scorpius and we were kissing. Then, beside us were Sri and James, positively snogging. Then Al appeared out of nowhere and started beating up Scorpius with a Beater's bat. I felt someone shaking me, though I didn't see who until I opened my eyes and saw that it was Sri. She looked really tired.

"What's this? What time is it?" I asked, kind of zoned out.

"Twelve o'clock pm," she answered looking annoyed. "I've been trying to get you up for half an hour."

"Why were you trying to wake me up?" I tried my best to stay awake.

"Because you're mum says we're going to Diagon Alley this morning. The booklists arrived at around eight this morning."

"Oh, okay, that's nice to know I'll get ready in a minute."

"NO YOU WON'T YOU'LL GET READY RIGHT NOW!" Mum shouted from downstairs, even though she sounded more excited than angry so I dressed quickly and hurried downstairs.

Mum was staring at Al who was staring at something in his hand that I couldn't see. Mum looked positively euphoric, while Al looked confused and James was gaping. "Lily, dear," she said in a cheerful tone, "your brother has just been made..."

"Head Boy," said James in a mocking voice.

"Open up your letter from Hogwarts please," said Dad coming into the living room, "we need to go soon.

Sri opened her envelope and gaped. There was a badge with a large _P _on it. "It can't be," she whispered, "this must be your letter Lily."

"Nope, I opened mine already." I was smiling at her, with the kind of face of someone who had just won a bet. "You're the new fifth year, female, Gryffindor Prefect. Congratulations!"

"That's impossible! I was sure it would be you or Harrietta."

Mum looked on the verge of tears. I was guessing all these pleasant surprises were a bit too much for her. "Well, we'll need to get you guys something. Oh, and Lily you get two things because you still have one of your birthday gifts. Hmm..." She looked thoughtful all the way to Diagon Alley letting out a lot of "umm..."s and "hmm..."s. We reached the Leaky Cauldron and went through the magical barrier, which Mum tapped with her wand three times to reveal a sort of archway.

We walked down the streets and went into many stores. Mum and dad got me an owl (which I called Jimmie) and a new set of school robes. While we were at Weasley Wizard Wheezes, my uncle's shop, I ran into Scorpius. Dad, James and Al all glared at him. Sri was looking at a display on the other side of the store so she didn't notice and Mum became suddenly very interested in the Puking Pastilles. It was pretty awkward and we both went red with embarrassment. "How do you do Scorpius? Had a good summer?" I knew it sounded lame as soon as the words left my mouth and he responded equally lamely, "It was pretty good. Pretty boring though." We exchanged another awkward glance knowing that the other was thinking of what had happened a few days earlier. We smiled sheepishly and said goodbye.

The whole group left at around seven and headed home. There we had dinner and all went to bed early. I wished my parents hadn't been with me in the joke shop and I resented them for being good parents. I imagined what it would have been like if my parents hadn't been there. I pictured myself looking at the Canary Creams and him walking over to me and smiling that smile that drove me crazy. Then he asked me if I wanted to go for an ice cream and I accepted. Without noticing it we had spent the whole day together. I smiled at the thought of this. Then I frowned at my brothers' and Dad's reaction if they knew what I was thinking.

Dad would say, "Don't you dare get too friendly with that Malfoy boy, Lily Luna Potter." James would say, "What do you see in Malfoy? He is so superficial, he better not do anything to hurt you. Stay away from him!" And Al's would probably be the worst. "What the hell are you thinking Lily! That's Malfoy you're imagining about! I can't believe you, you're such a traitor!"

I wonder if it's in males' genes to think that girls under twenty can't take care of themselves. I tried not to think of that and returned to my daydream which turned into a real dream as I dozed off.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Hogwarts Again

September first came before I had expected it to. I was careful pack Scorpius' shirt when no one was watching. I was glad was able to wash it the Muggle way when everyone was outside and they thought I had to go to the washroom. I packed my trunk as quickly as possible, put Jimmie in his cage and went downstairs. We walked to King's Cross, as usual. On the way Al dropped his trunk and it opened up, spilling all its contents everywhere. James cleaned the messed up quicker than a blink of an eye.

We reached the station and went through the magical barrier between platforms nine and ten and reached Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Al went to catch up with his friends and Sri and I looked for Jeremy and Will. First we found William, who had unnecessarily grown a couple of inches taller. Jeremy was already on the train, looking for a compartment. He smiled at us and we started the hunt for an empty compartment. Sri had to go meet with the Head Boy and Head Girl and only came around after the lunch trolley had gone by. Jeremy, Will and I found a compartment near the back of the train and settled in.

Jeremy was talking about how he had gone to Egypt in August. He was saying that the pyramids were his favourite part when a shy looking first year turned up in our compartment and blushed. She turned to leave but I said, "Where are you going? Don't you want to sit with us?" She looked really gratefully at me. She sat down beside Sri as Jeremy and Will put her trunk in an overhead shelf.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Rachel Frederickson. My mum's a witch and my dad's a Muggle," she answered so quietly I hardly heard her.

"You'll love it at Hogwarts," said Will beaming. Blushing she left me guessing that she didn't get much attention from boys. This surprised me, she was very pretty. I was sure all the boys would be after her. "You will, I hope you're in Gryffindor," broke in Jeremy. "We're all in that house." He pointed at everyone.

"She isn't stupid Jer."

We arrived at Hogwarts when it was already dark and the horseless carriages were waiting for us. "Rachel goes with Hagrid, he's gamekeeper and Care of Magical Creatures teacher, and he always takes first years up to the castle by boat, remember?" said Sri as Jeremy almost lead her to one of the carriages with them. "Oh, right," he said looking slightly embarrassed. She looked longingly at the carriages pulled by Thestrals and edged towards Hagrid very slowly. "Um... Jeremy? Are you okay? Remember that she's eleven years old," Sri complained as Jeremy stared after Rachel. It's just that she reminds me so much of my sister, Carol. I just want to make sure she's okay, it's her first year, remember how nervous we were in our first year?"

"You're right," she agreed.

The night was really hot and I was glad to reach the castle. We waited for what seemed like hours at the four house tables until the first years finally showed up looking extremely sweaty. Professor Morning-Glory placed the Sorting Hat on a four legged stool.

It started to sing but I got distracted by a guy sitting a few seats down from at the Gryffindor table. It took me a while to realize that he was waving at me and it took me even longer to find out that it was Charles Lynch. Charles was captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and son of some famous Quidditch player. Long story short, any girl, unless of course you were a Slytherin, would've died to have Lynch waving at them.

Every single year whenever there were Quidditch tryouts he asked me to join the team. Of course my excuse of not having a broom always had worked but now... "Hey, Potter I heard you got a new broom. The fastest one in the whole wide world, they don't even have one as fast in China. You better be at the tryouts in two week." I rolled my eyes and nodded my head, "Fine," I said, "I'll be there..."

"Shush!" I heard Jeremy's voice in my ear. "They're about to sot people into they're houses."

"Oh I hope Rachel's in our house," Sri said beside me. "She seemed very sweet."

Professor Morning-Glory took out the usual long roll of parchment with the names of first year students. "Airman, Jill." The Sorting Hat was placed on her head and it fell down well past her pale blue eyes. The Hat pondered where to put her for a second and the shouted, "Ravenclaw!" There were cheers from the Ravenclaw table as Jill took her seat. People went on getting sorted until a name caught my attention, "Fredrickson, Rachel." I held my breath and crossed my fingers. The Sorting Hat was taking and exceptionally long time to decide. After about five minutes it shouted out, "Gryffindor!" I clapped extra hard, happy that not everyone in her new house was a stranger.

I scooted over and waved her to sit between Sri and me. She sat down and I patted her on the back saying, "Congratulations, I'm glad you're in our house and not in Slytherin."

"The Hat had a really hard time sorting me," she said, ten times more confident than earlier. "He wanted to put me in Ravenclaw, because he said I had the potential of being the cleverest witch my age; but then he wanted me in Slytherin because I was apparently powerful; and then in Hufflepuff because of my 'kind heart'" She seemed to be enjoy telling me the Sorting Hat's thoughts. "But it finally decided Gryffindor because above everything I was brave," she beamed, proud of herself.

Professor Pencaple, Headmaster of Hogwarts stood up and said, "Please eat before it gets too late or else I might have to give a speech on an empty stomach." He chuckled at his own joke and sat down.

Immediately the golden plates in front of us filled up with food, magically. The beef reminded me of the colour of Scorpius' shirt and that I needed to give back to him so when I thought no one was looking I threw a crumpled up napkin at his head. He turned around looking really annoyed until he saw my face. I mouthed the words _shirt_ and_ ten o'clock_. He nodded and mouthed _Room of Requirement? _I smiled forming the words _where else? _

At half past nine everyone was already in their dormitories, feeling sleepy from the feast, which had been delicious. At five to ten I got out of bed and put on a sweater over my pyjama t-shirt. I grabbed the t-shirt, sneaked out of my dorm and past the Fat Lady. I climbed the staircase to the seventh floor corridor and found Scorpius waiting looking at his watch. I walked towards him. He looked up at the sound of my footsteps. He smiled, pointed at his watch and said, "You're late." I observed and whispered, "By what, twenty seconds?" He laughed and came closer. I handed him his shirt and said, "I should get going. See you around?" I smiled at him and he replied, "Duh, we go to the same boarding school. I'll see you later."

I heard footsteps shuffling towards us and realised it was the caretaker, Cheswick. Scorpius grabbed my hand and led me into a newly formed door. Inside it was cramped but at least we were safe from the evil clutches of Cheswick. Only when he left did I start to feel embarrassed of being so close to Scorpius. I mean, I'm talking nose to nose, literally. I blushed and said in an unconvincing casual tone, "Er-well, I'd better get to bed; OWL year's supposed to be tricky."

"Yeah I should go too," he replied obviously equally embarrassed. "NEWT is supposed to be worst."

We squeezed out and with one last embarrassed look at each other went our separate ways.

That morning at breakfast Professor Longbottom, Head of Gryffindor house, handed out the time tables. "Oh, damn it!" I heard Jeremy complain, "First we have double Herbology with Slytherin." The three of us groaned. Just because Scorpius was my friend didn't mean I liked the Slytherins. Except for him they were all a bunch of stuck up snobs who thought they were better than anybody who crossed their path. I looked down at my time table and found out it was the truth, the oh so depressing truth. Not that Herbology was boring or anything, it could be quite enjoyable with Professor Longbottom teaching. After lunch I had History of Magic and then Care of Magical Creatures with the Ravenclaws. Looking at the rest of the week I was glad I hadn't taken Divination. It was, according to Jer and Sri, the worst torture that anyone had ever invented.

We walked through the grounds to Greenhouse 4 and an unpleasant surprise met us on the way. Oliver Grey was blocking the entrance to the greenhouse. Grey was a skinny fifth year who was about ninety feet tall. He had mousy brown hair and yellow eyes, like a snakes. "Get out of the way, unlike you, we want to actually pass our OWLs," growled Jeremy. Grey obviously had no intention of moving I threatened, "Get out of our way or I'll stun you so badly it'll send you to Tartarus." Will and Sri looked surprised, while Grey looked confused. "I'm sorry but, what the hell is Tartarus?" he asked. "Oh, that's right. Someone as important as a 'pure-blood'," Sri made air quotations with her hands, "wouldn't bother learning Muggle mythology."

"I'm surprised that Sumter here goes to Muggle studies. You know, being a Mudblood and all," he sneered. Everything happened in a flash Jeremy was on top of Grey and both Sri and I had aimed different hexes at him. Professor Longbottom came out of Greenhouse 4 in time to prevent Jer from getting all his teeth knocked out. "Please, what _is_ going on here that makes it necessary for Mister Jordan to have a broken nose and Mister Grey to have- are those blueberries?- sprouting out of his head?"

"He called me a Mudblood," Will piped up in a dignified voice.

"Well that will be ten points from Slytherin for using offensive terminology and five from Gryffindor, _each_, for starting a fight," punished Professor Longbottom without mercy.

We left the greenhouses two hours later, our minds well lectured on the importance of Ordinary Wizarding Levels, and leaving me thinking that I was going to fail everything. Sri said otherwise, because apparently I was best in every class. Just because I got top marks didn't I was best, "Remember, you're the Prefect, not me." I reminded her.

"You know, I think being Prefect has more to do with something else than grades," Will pointed out, "Because if it didn't Lily would've been Prefect."

"I'm glad Sri and Hugo are fifth year Prefects. And then there's Nathan and Grace as sixth year Prefects while Rose and Al are Head Boy and Girl," I counted them off on my fingers.

"Guess Sri and Grace are the only Gryffindors who were successful without being Weasleys," Jer laughed.

"Oh, shut up," I retorted.

After lunch Will and I headed to Professor Binns classroom, while Jeremy and Sri went up to the North Tower for Divination.

As usual, everyone was yawning and getting heavy eyed within five minutes of the class starting. Somehow, even though I didn't pay any attention in class I had gotten Os (outstanding) on all of my previous History of Magic exams. Professor Binns went on and on about some kind of witch that had discovered Devil Snare's weakness or something like. Or maybe we'd learnt that in Herbology. Whatever, I wasn't paying attention, end of story.

Half an hour later we made our way down to Hagrid's hut. I wondered how old Hagrid actually was. Whatever his age he was great and he made the best tea in the world. I him saw near a giant paddock. His hair was pearly white and his black beetle-like eyes stood out. In the paddock was what looked like a giant feathered lion. "Hagrid, what are you doing with that griffin?" I asked. "Thought we'd go over 'em in yer OWL year." He replied

That night while we headed up to Gryffindor Tower, complaining about all the homework that we'd been given (four foot long report about goblin rebellions and two feet of parchment about the dangers of hurting a griffin's feelings). Sri complained, "We need to write all of our dreams in a journal and then predict them for Divination. _Fraud_well wants us to do that all the way until the Christmas hols!"

"What!" spat Will. "Doesn't Frallwell usually like, not give you homework on the first day because she's too busy telling you about how great she is?"

"Well she usually does but a certain someone's Prefect cousin," Jeremy looked straight me, "said that we heard this every year and it was getting boring."

"So she got furious. I thought she was going to take out her wand and hex him right there on the spot, but she didn't, thank goodness," explained Sri

"Do you something for a certain Hugo Weasley?" teased Jeremy.

"No!" we said at the same time.

"Just kidding! No need to get upset!" he said defensively.

We reached the Fat Lady, gave her the password (Gillywater) and entered the common room to see the biggest mess in the world. Fred, Alex and they're friend Greg Finnegan had set off a bunch of Weasley Wizard Wheezes brand fireworks. The scene was funny with the first years running around screaming, "Don't let it burn me!" and the Prefects (including Sri) trying to take control of the situation. The Portrait Hole opened up behind me and Rose came in.

She was holding hands with her boyfriend Carlisle Palomino. I always called him pony, which annoyed both him and Rose immensely. For a second she looked taken aback. But that only lasted a second before she said, or better shouted, "Who's been setting off these damn fireworks again?" she looked and Greg, Alex and Fred holding their sides. "Of course, I shouldn't have even asked." She rolled her eyes and walked towards them. "Put them away, _now_ before I put in detention!"

They groaned and opened the windows to let the fireworks out. The first years calmed down and I got started on my homework, knowing that the year was going to be long. Rose looked around and exclaimed outraged, "Where's Al! Oh when I find him..." With this she left the common room, setting out to look for my older brother.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

We Get Punished

The week dragged on, boring and uneventful, unless you count getting so much homework that your brain explodes a big surprise. I can't say I hadn't been warned that OWL year was hard, about a million times. Since I'd done all of my homework on Friday I had the weekend free and nothing to do while Jeremy and Will being the idiots that most boys are played Wizard Chess, ignoring the huge pile homework waiting to be done. Sri was doing hers so that she wouldn't need to panic on Sunday evening. After a couple of rounds of really boring chess I asked to play and Jeremy, who had won every game, challenged me to beat him.

Wizard Chess is kind of like ordinary Muggle chess, except nothing like it at all. The little chess pieces move according to your orders and when they kill off another piece, they literally kill off another piece. My set of players were used to me playing with them, using them for eight years against Al and James had been useful and I won. By a lot. After my tenth win Sri had finished her homework and wanted to stretch her legs.

"Finally!" I exclaimed. "I've wanted to do that for hours, it's such a nice day."

We headed out of the common room and headed down the corridor. In one of the corners Rose was snogging her boyfriend and I just couldn't resist the temptation. "And to your right you will see the famous, Headus-Girlus snogging her boyfriendus," I said sounding like some kind of scientist. She turned around at told me to get lost. I laughed as I dodged the book she had enchanted to fly at me while I ran away with my friends. We reached the entrance where Peeves the Poltergeist, who was still there, was throwing water balloons at everyone. "Hallo Peeves," I called. He turned around and waved at me. Jeremy grumbled, "Why doesn't he bug you?" as a water balloon hit him on the head.

"I don't know, maybe he just likes me. Hey Peeves, how many water balloons have you got in their?"

He cackled and said, "About two hundred but I'm saving fifty for Head Girl Rosy Posy," he howled gleefully as a balloon hit a first year girl.

"Could I borrow a few?" I asked, getting mildly splashed as one hit Sri.

"How many is a few? I can give you ten, here," he floated down and gave me a basket with some balloons.

"Great, I have the perfect use for these," I grinned evilly and went outside.

As we walked down everyone looked at me, puzzled. Finally Will said, "Would you mind telling us what this perfect use is?"

"They're for putrid, perfect Prefect Patricia Gallagher."

"The sixth year Slytherin? Didn't she try do dock points from Gryffindor because your shoes were untied yesterday?" asked Will

"Yep; the very one, I can't wait to see her face."

She was sitting under a tree with a bunch of stupid looking girls wearing too much makeup. _Even better_, I thought, _now their makeup will run_. I signalled my friends to follow me behind another nearby tree and whispered, "Okay we'll enchant them so she won't know it was us. I'll need to repay Peeves later; this is going to be great!"

"You know, you're getting madder every year," whispered back Jeremy, impressed.

"Okay, at the count of three. One," I held up one finger.

"We aren't deaf, just say one, two, three and be done with it!" Jeremy complained impatiently.

"Okay, okay. One, two three!" we muttered the enchantment at the same time and ten water balloons soared towards Patricia and her Barbie-doll-gone-wrong friends. They screamed as one after another they were drenched to the bone with the water balloons. Everyone around them started laughing s their makeup started to smudge. We sneaked back into the school and when we were sure we were safe we started to shriek with laughter. Peeves was still there and said, "Did Miss Potter cause misery to someone? I hope it was that Warty Patty with her makeup done perfectly."

"Yep, it was her. Yesterday she was being such a bi-"

"Such a what?" said a voice behind us.

Our eyes went wide and Jeremy whispered, "Oops."

"'Oops' is right Mister Jordan. I would like to know what you were doing to Miss Gallagher that was so amusing," he questioned

"Um... well we sort of threw a few water balloons at her. Well actually, Jeremy, Lily and I did, Sri tried to stop us," Will lied.

"All right then, since you don't seem to be able to get along with the other students outside you will confined to the castle for a fortnight," he decided.

"What! Even for Care of Magical Creatures?" Jeremy said, stunned.

"Don't be stupid, of course you'll go out for your classes but that's the only time!"

We groaned but didn't dare say anything else, in case our punishment was doubled to our weeks. When he'd gone I said, "Well, I think it was worth it. But you don't need to agree with me," I added hastily seeing the looks on their faces

"A whole two weeks confined to the castle! This is awful, I bet the weather's great."

Maybe Will should become a meteorologist, since his forecast was correct. The next two weeks were the most beautiful weather we could've hoped for. The sun shone and we were miserable. Although Sri wasn't punished, she wandered round the insides of the castle with us, looking for things to do. Other than homework.

Thankfully around the middle of the first week, I came up with the most brilliant idea in the world. "Come with me," I told my friends. "I've got a solution to all of this moping around."

"You're going to stop trying to cheer us up?" offered Jeremy.

"Nope, if I'm right, I've found a replacement outdoors."

"Umm... I thought we'd already gone over this. We aren't allowed in the Owlery either, remember? We almost got another week of being confined to the castle when we tried that."

"No, idiot, not the Owlery. Come on, follow me."

We climbed many flights of stairs until we reached our destination, Jeremy panting. The seventh floor corridor was as empty as usual, since almost everyone was outside. I thought, _We need a place that's identical to outside, maybe even better._ After about two minutes Jeremy said, "Are we waiting for something? You've just been staring at that section in the wall. Ow!"

Sri was pulling on his hair, "Shut up, would you? Look," she pointed at "that section of the wall" where a door had appeared. I said, "Well, who wants to go in- I mean out- first?"

Everyone just stood there looking suspiciously at the door that had appeared. "Oh, really, nothing's going to happen!" seeing as no one planned to move I opened the door and what I saw redefined beautiful. The Come and Go Room had really outdone itself. There trees blossoming with flowers but also with green leaves and there was what looked like the shore of the Black Lake. Except it wasn't the Black Lake, it was ten times more beautiful, with emerald green water and water-lilies floating within two feet of each other. I gasped and the all came running in. They took a look around, dumbstruck. The grass was greener than I'd ever seen it at Hogwarts or even at home. Flowers bloomed all over the place at random and seemed to be smiling at us.

"This is beautiful," Sri whispered. "What is this place?"

"The House Elves refer to it as the Room of Requirement or the Come and Go Room."

"There're House Elves at Hogwarts? Wicked!" exclaimed Jeremy impressed.

"Yep, so I've lost my respect for Alex and Fred who're always bragging about nicking stuff from the kitchens. They remind me of My Uncle George and his twin, from stories that I've heard."

"I'd almost forgotten he had a twin brother," remembered Jeremy

"Whoa, wait! What do you mean by your Uncle George _had_ a twin brother? What happened to him?" asked Will, obviously feeling left out along with Sri. Jeremy and I were silent for a little while and then I sighed and said, "He died, twenty six years ago. He was only nineteen; it broke my uncle's heart. Apparently he refused to eat for weeks, trying to starve himself."

"He only survived because Lily's grandma fed him using magically while he was asleep," Jeremy concluded.

"Why does Jeremy know all this but we don't?" questioned Will, hurt in his voice.

"Because my dad's Lee Jordan. He was their best friend at Hogwarts; apparently he was very upset when Lily's Uncle Fred died too."

Sri looked horrified, and Will stunned. "I'm so sorry," Sri finally whispered.

I looked at her forced a smile, "Oh, don't be. I never knew him so it's okay."

"Same here," Jeremy agreed. "You know, in case anyone was wondering."

The rest of our punishment if we weren't doing homework we were in the Room of Requirement, enjoying the "sun". Thankfully we didn't get tanned in there, as Sri had worried. And every once in a while we'd go swimming but the second we walked out of that door, we were dry.

Once when I had already finished my homework but everyone else hadn't, I decided to go for a walk. In the castle of course. I went down to the basement, near the Hufflepuff common room and decided to look around. I saw a painting of a bowl of fruit and a wooden door with the shape of a badger carved into it. I looked at it for a while until the badger's mouth opened and it looked straight at me, annoyed. "Are you going to stand there all day? You aren't even a Hufflepuff."

I jumped. "What! How do you know that?"

It rolled its eyes and replied, "Your tie, duh! It's scarlet and gold instead of yellow and black. What are you doing here?"

You can probably guess that by this point I was sure I was going crazy. "Well, um... I have to go, so, yeah and er... bye."

I turned around and just about slammed into a tall fifth year boy. "Sorry," I apologized before realising who it was. He laughed and said, "Its okay but you might want to check which common room you're going to next time." I laughed and looked into Wills twin brother, Richard's shining blue eyes. "I'm really sorry," I insisted. "I am getting so bored in here. Will, Jeremy and Sri are still doing their homework. Lazy butts, how are they ever going to survive OWL year? Oh, I see you've been made Prefect, good for you! Do you know why there's a bowl of fruit painted a couple of steps up? It seems so pointless. Maybe it's an entrance to one of those secret passageways that James told me about. He's working for my uncle now, you know? He's helping out with Weasleys Wizard Wheezes down in Diagon Alley. Uncle George is hoping to get another one built in Hogsmeade and like that he could see his kids more often. James gets us a bunch of sweets and stuff for -"

"You talk too much," he interrupted, laughing. "And the bowl of fruit is the entrance to kitchens, all you have to do is tickle the pear," he added with a wink. "Well, I have to go, try to enjoy the rest of your punishment."

He went into his common room and left me standing there. What had he said? The bowl of fruit was the entrance to the kitchens? What kitchens?

I went up the flight of stairs and stopped. I looked at it a tickled the pear thinking, _This is ridiculous_. But it started to giggle madly and revealed a door. I opened and stepped in to the most humongous kitchen on the planet. Almost as soon as I got in I tripped on something that let out a loud screech. I gasped at the figure of a small House Elf on the ground massaging its head. "I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry!"

It looked at me with big brown eyes and a nosed that highly resembled a squashed tomato. It squeaked, "You Miss is a Potter isn't you Miss? Yes, you is looking much like your father Miss. Except for your hair and eyes. They isn't like your fathers, and same with your hair, Miss. Harry Potter came here when he was being at school you see, Harry Potter saw Winky in a most terrible state. But now that both masters is dead, Winky has no one to serve and is happy to be at Hogwarts."

"I'm sorry; did you say your name is Winky? My aunt told me about you. She said that-"

Before I could finish about a billion House Elves started trying to serve me food. I took things at random from different plates and finally after about half an hour later I escaped, out of breath.

I stuffed all the food into the pockets of my school robes and headed off towards my own common room.

"Gillywater," I said not really thinking about the password and went in. I couldn't see any of my friends in there. In fact the whole common room was empty. I went up to my dorm. Everyone was there. Well, everyone I shared a room with.

Harrietta Snyder, the second smartest girl in class. She was petite with brown eyes and short black hair, falling over the left side of her face, covering one eye. Her face infested with freckles. Margaret Carter an African-American with long brown hair, in two braids, and blue eyes. Larissa Garnet, the famous Gryffindor Metamorphmagus. She had purple eyes and at that moment, venom blue hair. She was a Muggle-Born and had her nose and lip pierced.

"Hey, why is the common room empty?"

"Well... you see, Alex, Fred and Greg sort of went a bit overboard with the fireworks this time." Margaret said.

"And your cousin, Rose got really pissed and sent us all up to our dormitories. She threatened to take points away from Gryffindor and gave Fred, Alex and Greg detention," concluded Larissa.

"Oh, okay. Good to know."

Sri glared at me for a second and then complained, "Where the hell were you? Jeremy, Will and I were worried for hours!"

"Umm... I was gone for like, forty five minutes," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Well, we were worried."

"Why?"

"Because we thought that you'd come in when Rose was still fuming."

"Okay..."

"Never mind. You didn't see Rose's face."

"Oh, I've seen her when she's been furious. I bet you this didn't even match up to it."

She grumbled and sat down on her bed. I knew that she didn't want to talk to me, so I didn't push it, sitting down on my bed taking some food out of my pocket and eating it.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Quidditch, Cheats and Fights

Near the end of September were the Quidditch tryouts. _Damn it James!_ I thought, _why'd you have to get me such a nice birthday gift_? I loved Quidditch more than anything; I just didn't like all the pressure that everyone put on me. "When are you going to try out?" They all asked.

"When I get a decent broom," I'd always replied. Until my birthday I'd been using my dad's ancient Firebolt. But now, there was no excuse for not trying out. I had to, because if I didn't well, let's put it this way. My life would've ended as soon as Charlie Lynch found out.

I sighed and headed down to the Quidditch Pitch.

There were tons of people there. At least half of Gryffindor house. My brother was trying out again for seeker and Nathan was trying out for beater along with Al's girlfriend, Linda Nix. I tried out for chaser.

What happened was basically playing but seeing who the best was. While I was flying I always felt great. The wind in my face, going so fast I got tears in my eye... Yes, flying was the best experience in the world.

After about an hour or two the tryouts ended. Charles announced, "All right everyone, the names for the members of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team will be posted tomorrow morning." I could have sworn he winked at me as everyone left the pitch, making me feel uneasy. Oh gosh, please no! I thought.

To my horror the next morning right at the top of the list of players for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team was: _Lily Potter, Fifth Year; Chaser_. "Fantastic," I mumbled sarcastically. I looked at the other names on the board:

_Peter Riordan, Fourth Year; Chaser_

_Linda Nix, Sixth Year; Beater_

_Nathan Weasley, Sixth Year; Beater_

_Polly Kraken, Third Year; Keeper_

_Albus Potter, Seventh Year; Seeker_

_Charles Lynch, Seventh Year; Chaser and Quidditch Captain_

At least the team wasn't too bad.

People kept on looking to see who'd made it. And everyone was congratulating me. Some even cast me sly looks. All I did was say, "Thanks," super lamely.

"All right Lily, we have a practice tomorrow at six in morning," Charlie informed me at breakfast.

"WHAT! Are you crazy?" I called after him.

"Nope, I expect to see you there."

I groaned and my I fell face first into my eggs. Sri just about died laughing. "Shut up!" I wiped my face with a napkin. Quidditch at Hogwarts was definitely going to be different than at home.

Tomorrow morning, meaning Sunday, I was having a dream about faceless creatures with tails, dwelling underwater. One of them kept jabbing me in the side. "Ow!"

"Hurry up Lily; we're going to be late for practice!"

"Huh, what?"

"Are you deaf? We're late. It's five to six."

I opened my eyes and saw Linda looming over me. "Argh!"

"Oh come on, get dressed we need to practice."

Of course today it was the first dull, cloudy day, perfect for sleeping in.

Linda and I shouldered our brooms and headed down to the Quidditch Pitch. On our way down it started to drizzle and by the time we reached the changing rooms it was a monsoon. Lynch looked about ready to murder us by the time we got there.

"WHERE WERE YOU! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TIME IT IS!" he screamed

I looked at my watch, "It's six o' two."

"Exactly! Two minutes we could've been practicing!"

Linda and I looked at each other, eyebrows raised. He was so over exaggerating. My father told me that being Quidditch Captain was very stressful. I never thought it would be this bad though.

I changed into my new Quidditch robes and headed outside. Within seconds I was soaked to the bone. I mounted my broom and kicked off the ground. I couldn't see a thing.

About half way through practice a Bludger hit me in the face, breaking my nose. It wasn't the first time it had happened but it still hurt. Tears formed in my eyes making my eyesight even more blurry than before. Blood stained my robes but the rain washed them out almost immediately.

I flew around for another ten minutes. Then I had to land because my nose wouldn't stop bleeding and I was starting to get dizzy. "Hey, Lynch! Cad we stob bractice, I dink I broke by dose!"

"I heard a vague "What?" and saw Lynch land beside me. "Oh my! What happened?"

"A Bludger hit me. Cad I go see Madame Seifert?

"Sure, I'll take you," he blew his whistle and announced, "End of practice! Go get changed and get some breakfast, we'll have another one next week on Wednesday."

"Why?" I heard Polly Kraken, Gryffindor Keeper, ask.

"Lily broke her nose and it won't stop bleeding. You two need to be more vigilant." He pointed at Linda and Nathan, obviously angry. "We can't let this happen during a game, Quidditch Matches are rarely cancelled due to something as small as a broken nose."

"Gee, danks," I said holding my nose.

Half way to the castle I tripped on something and of course sprained my ankle. "Whad is wid my luck today?"

"Don't worry," Lynch smiled. "Here, you can lean on me."

I put my arm round his shoulder and he put his around my waist. His arm felt strangely warm, sending shivers up my spine. Could it be that I was starting to like Charles? Impossible! I'd known him for a long time, this was true. But he and Al were best friends and I couldn't betray my brother like that. No, I would control my raging hormones that didn't have any idea what they were thinking.

We reached the Hospital Wing and the Matron, Madame Seifert, came out looking extremely annoyed. "Really Lynch, Quidditch in this weather? What were you thinking and know, you bring me Miss Potter with a broken nose and sprained ankle? I must have a talk with the Headmaster about Quidditch being too dangerous when he returns."

"Where is he?" Charlie asked as he placed me in a bed, surprisingly gracefully.

"Never you mind! Keep your nose out of other people's business."

I sat up but the Matron pushed me down. "Oh no you don't! You need to rest. Just one second." She took out her wand and muttered, "Episkey."

My nose stopped throbbing immediately and stopped bleeding too. "Now, you rest that ankle. I've run out of potion. Looks like it'll have to heal the Muggle way."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me! Today Will, Jeremy, Sri and I were going to order some sweets from Honeydukes in Hogsmeade!"

"Why don't you just wait until the first trip?"

"Because, Charlie, we're impatient, that's why."

He laughed. "If you want I can stay here, you know, to keep you company."

"Thanks, I'd like that." I smiled at him.

The day carried on, dull and grey. Several people came by. After a while I got tired of saying, "It's just a sprained ankle. It'll heal soon enough," and compromised to just saying, "Quidditch Injury." Guess that hundreds of people between the ages of eleven and seventeen have nothing better to do than talk about famous Lily Potter and how she tragically broke her nose and sprained her ankle in one day. Stupid Dad, why'd he have to be so famous? Making me famous! Fame sucks dragon balls.

It was getting dark or darker outside when I finally said, "You can go if you want. I'll be fine."

Charlie laughed, "No way, I'm staying here until you fall asleep."

So he stayed there, until I fell asleep. Actually he stayed there all night, making me kind of nervous. But to be honest, I was glad to have someone there when I twisted the wrong way and woke up because my ankle was hurting. Even if he was Al's best friend.

The next morning Sri helped me to class. In fact she helped me to class every day of the week until I was able to move again. Charlie excused me from Quidditch practice but made me swear to train twice as hard when my ankle healed.

The only time when the Quidditch pressure actually started to sink in was during Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Professor Greenberger was talking about who knows what when a piece of parchment hit the back of my head. I opened it up and read:

I hope Madame Seifert stays close by.

O.G.

O.G.? Who was O.G.? I looked behind and saw Oliver Grey, waving at me. He was a Beater for the Slytherin Quidditch team. I rolled my eyes and mouthed, Yeah, you're gonna get your butt kicked. He raised his eyebrows as if to say, "Oh really," and started pretending to take notes.

All through the next two weeks before the game Slytherins kept tripping me and saying things like, "Watch your nose!" or, "Sprained any ankles lately?"

How I managed to get through the week before the match, I'll never know. Lynch was training us as if his life depended on it and the teachers were piling on the homework.

During one of the practices Polly missed the Quaffle and Lynch gave her the most murderous look in the universe. He seriously should've entered an angry looks contest. Poor Polly, after that practice Lynch yelled at her about being alert and vigilant and blah, blah, blah...

The morning of the first match Charlie kept telling all the team, "Eat up! You'll need the energy!"

Of course he didn't eat anything. I felt like I had a big slimy slug in my stomach, giving me no appetite. On the way down to the Pitch Lynch kept talking about the weather conditions, "Looks like it could rain, but I doubt it. If it does, just play twice as hard, okay?"

In the changing rooms he gave us kind of a pep talk. "All right, the Slytherins are good, but we're better. Lily, you go to Defence Against the Dark Arts and Herbology with that Grey right? What's he like?"

I thought for a second and said the best way to describe him, "Stupid, big, a jerk."

"Good to know. All right, show no mercy!"

We walked onto the pitch to a mixture of ear-splitting cheers and boos. The Slytherin team was already out. Madame Hooch, not the one that was at school with my dad but her daughter, went over the rules once again and announced, "Mount your brooms!"

She blew her whistle and the match began.

I grabbed the Quaffle and started to fly towards the Slytherin goalposts. I passed to Peter and he passed back. I got hit in the back with a Bludger and dropped the ball. Thankfully Charlie got it. "Ten points to Gryffindor!" David Harbour, my cousins Jamie and Ashley's friend, announced. "Nice shot Lynch!"

A heard the whistle and followed Gerard Drake, a Slytherin Chaser, trying to get the Quaffle. I heard a whistle and turned to see Al looking very pleased with himself. "Impossible!" Grey said somewhere behind me.

"Wow! It looks like we have a new Hogwarts record, the Snitch has been caught by the Gryffindor Seeker, Albus Potter. Gryffindor wins one hundred and sixty to zero!" announced Harbour.

I looked at Grey and said, "Possible!" grinning.

We all landed and lifted Al onto our shoulders. "Good job bro!" I called to him

"Thanks!"

That evening in the common room there was huge party. There were scarlet streamers and Fred, Alex and Greg set off a bunch of fireworks. But Filibusters Fireworks, "Rose will have a fit otherwise!" Greg explained to me, yelling over the noise. "Speaking of which, where is she?" I yelled back. He shrugged.

I walked over to Hugo and screamed, "Do you know where Rose is?"

"No, she's probably somewhere with her boyfriend."

I looked around and saw a shocking sight. "I doubt it!"

Hugo looked confused for a second and then saw what I was looking at. Pony was in a corner, kissing Carla Argyle. Before I could stop him Hugo had marched up to him and was yelling, "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!"

Perfect timing, guess who had just come into the common room. For a second Pony acted as though he hadn't heard my cousin and kept on kissing Carla. But Hugo unglued them and punched Carlisle right in the face.

Rose looked stunned. "HOW..." he punched him again, "DARE YOU!"

"Don't hit me squirt!" Pony retorted shoving Hugo. Pony's eye was starting to throb his nose was bleeding.

"I'LL HIT YOU IF I WANT!" then he kicked him in the stomach.

Pony punched Hugo back, giving him a fat lip. Everyone seemed too stunned to move; even Rose. She looked on the verge of tears. The fight went on for about five minutes before Al finally pulled Hugo off of Carlisle who had been pinned to the ground.

But of course, my cousin's idiot boyfriend yelled, "Watch your back Weasley!" Soon just about our whole family was there. Well, at least all the boys. Ashley, Rose and I stayed behind, but not for long.

"What did you say?" dared Al.

"I'm giving this squirt a warning."

It took about a million people to hold my family back. And it took about half an hour for them to stop fuming, giving Pony the chance to run away.

"Well, that was interesting," I heard a voice beside me.

"Yes, and embarrassing," I turned and saw I was talking to Charlie.

"Want to go for a walk?"

"Sounds like a great idea."

We went out threw the Portrait Hole and sneaked along the corridors. It was funny how there wasn't anyone around. Maybe they were all too stunned by Al's amazing capture of the Snitch. That would go down in History. The halls were the coldest they had been in a long time. As they were always in early October.

We reached the Entrance Halls and snuck outside. "It's beautiful at night!" I commented.

"Yes, it is."

"But it's kind of cold."

"I could hug you," he teased.

"I'm not that cold!" I laughed.

We walked in silence for some time before Charlie mumbled something. "Sorry?"

"Huh? Oh, I was just talking to myself.

"Okay."

After a while he grabbed my hand. It was warm and soft, sending shivers up my spine. "Hey Lily?"

"Yes?"

"Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me in two weeks?"

"Is that when the first trip is?"

"Yeah, it is."

I smiled and said, "I'd love to."

He put his arm around my shoulder and I tried to limit myself to putting mine around him too. Turning I saw him looking indecisive. I looked into his chocolate brown eyes, it was as though he were hypnotising me. He grabbed my face in his eyes and kissed me. I kissed him back, feeling happy, very happy.

As though the weather had been watching us, it started to snow, which was rare for October. We pulled apart and looked at each other. I looked and saw someone watching us from a window, but I couldn't make out who it was. Once they realised I was watching they disappeared. "What the...?"

"What is it?"

"Someone was watching us."

"D'you think they went to tell a teacher?"

"No. But we should be getting back to the common room anyways."

He nodded and we headed back to Gryffindor Tower, holding hands.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Hogsmeade

The only people that knew about Lynch and me were, well, Lynch and me. It wasn't like we were keeping it a secret on purpose. It just didn't seem necessary to blab it to the whole school, that's all.

During Quidditch we'd exchange smiles and in the common room we'd talk sometimes. I noticed that Scorpius was being evasive. More than usual. He usually said hi to me in the hallway but recently he'd been ignoring me completely.

One day after dinner I cornered him. "You guys go ahead," he said in a bored voice to his friends. "What do you want?"

"An explanation."

"Sorry?"

"You've been avoiding me and don't pretend otherwise. What is it?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He lied very convincingly. I knew him too well though.

"Stop lying! Why are you ignoring me? Did I say something, or did I do something to offend you?"

"Fine! I'm sorry. Now, to prove I haven't been avoiding you, do you want to go for a walk?"

"Okay, but inside. It's really cold out."

"At least it isn't snowing yet."

"I know, but it will soon enough. I wouldn't be surprised if on Halloween there was blizzard."

"That's the same day as the first Hogsmeade trip. Are you going with your friends?" Scorpius asked me.

"No, I'm not. Actually I'm going with er... Charles Lynch. He asked me last week."

I noticed that Scorpius looked depressed. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," he gave me a weak smile. "Lynch is lucky."

"Why?"

"Well, because he gets to go to Hogsmeade with y- the person he loves."

"Can't you?"

"Well I love this one girl but, she doesn't love me back."

"I know how you feel," I put a hand on his shoulder.

"NO!" he slapped my hand of his shoulder, rather hard. This scared me. "NO YOU DON'T! I'VE LOVED HER SINCE I WAS THIRTEEN, BU-but she'll never be mine!"

Tears formed in his eyes and started streaming down his cheeks. He was right, I didn't know how he felt. "I've even showed her!"

"Showed her what?" I asked cautiously.

"THAT I LOVE HER!" he yelled, glaring at me. Scorpius was really starting to scare me now. I'd never seen him so upset. "I kissed her. But she still went off with another guy. DAMN IT!" Of course I, being the dense girl I am, had no idea who he was talking about. "I... is there any way I can help you?"

"Get lost!"

"But-"

"GO AWAY!"

I stood there too stunned to do anything.

"ARE YOU DEAF POTTER! GO AWAY!"

I started to run away. Before I turned the corner I glanced behind me and saw Scorpius leaning on the wall with one hand for balance. His face in the other one. He was shaking.

I couldn't believe what he'd called me. Something he's only ever called my brothers. He'd called me Potter.

I ran up the staircases as fast as my feet could carry me, feeling awful. Scorpius had been scary, my hand still hurt. But, why had he been scary? Because he'd yelled? Because he'd hit me? I just didn't know.

I reached the Fat Lady and gave her the password. I went through the portrait hole and sat down in an armchair. "Hey, are you okay? You look a bit harassed."

"Huh?" I saw Will standing in front of me. "You want to talk?" he asked

"Not now." I smiled at him

"Okay. Do you want to be alone?"

"No, I'd like some company. Where are Sri and Jeremy?"

"I have no idea. Their never around when needed."

I laughed. Will had always been more sensitive than Jeremy. He was like a brother to me, the one that always knew the right thing to say. He sat down in the chair beside me, quiet. I turned to him, "Can you do me a favour?"

"Anything."

"Come here." I said and pointed at the chair. He sat on one of the chair's arms. I was about to say something but he seemed to have read my mind. "Do you need hug?"

I nodded and stood up. He did too. Will wrapped his arms around me, loosely. That's what I love about Will, he's very considerate. He didn't squeeze too tight unless you wanted him to. "Tighter" I requested. And he squeezed me tighter. I felt better almost immediately.

I'm not sure how long he was a good friend. We pulled apart when Charlie came up to us and asked to borrow me for a second. "Yes?" I asked

"I wanted to know where you wanted to go next weekend. Are you doing okay? I saw you and Will hugging."

"I'm fine. Thank you for asking. We can go wherever you want."

"No way! You're the girl; you need to decide where to go."

"Well why don't we just walk around town?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Later," I called as he walked away.

Will came up to me and said, "So, d'you feel better."

"Yes, I do. Thanks for being such a great friend."

"You're welcome."

The next day was Tuesday and we had Potions in the morning. That, and Defence with the Slytherins. Potions was just the Gryffindors, thankfully.

Professor Morning-Glory walked in. "Today we will be making a Love Potion. If I catch any of you trying to sneak some to use it I will make sure you are expelled. The instructions are in your books. Page fifty eight. Get started."

She walked around the classroom, helping certain students. Like Theodore Longbottom, the Herbology teacher's son. "Theo, try adding a tad more Moondust."

After an hour and half my potion was the right shade of fuchsia, so was Will's. He was the smartest in the class, apart from me. No brag, just fact. "All right students give me a sample of your potion and it will be graded. Have a nice day everyone!"

Professor Morning-Glory was just about everyone's favourite teacher. She never gave homework.

At lunch Sri dropped a bombshell. Okay, not a bombshell but something pretty major. At least for me, "You guys know Will's brother right?"

"Yeah," the three of us chorused.

"Well he's going out with Amanda Clearwater, Lily's aunt's niece. She's in Ravenclaw."

"Oh my gosh! That's awesome!"

"Damn it!" Will complained.

"What?" asked Jeremy.

"I owe him two galleons. We had a bet about who got a girlfriend first. But we didn't try to play girls because of it!" he added hastily when he saw the look on Sri's face.

So, Richard had a girlfriend. I was happy for him. Now, if only Jeremy and Will would become interested in girls the four of us would've passed the stage where the opposite sex was only seen in the eyes of friendship.

On Halloween was the first Hogsmeade trip. I woke up at around nine o'clock and got dressed. Today I had a date with Charlie.

We met in the common room. "You ready to go?" he asked

"Yep. Wait, does Al know?"

"Yeah. At first he seemed a bit moody but he said that at least it wasn't anyone in Slytherin."

We headed downstairs, into the Entrance Hall, where Cheswick was checking off names of the people allowed into Hogsmeade, making sure no one snuck out. He checked us off and we headed down the sloping grounds towards the gate.

Talking about things like Quidditch and school we reached the entrance of Honeydukes.

"Didn't you want to get something from here?"

"Oh, yeah. Thanks for reminding me."

We went in and bought a bunch of stuff. Liquorice Wands, Drooble's Best Chewing Gum, Every Flavoured Beans, etc...

The Three Broomsticks was always crowded but we went in anyways. We found a table near the back and sat down. "I'll go get us some Butterbeers. My treat."

"I can pay for mine if you want."

"Well I don't want you to so I'll pay. This is date isn't it? What kind of guy makes his girlfriend pay?"

"I paid for my stuff in Honeydukes!"

"Um... That's because you wouldn't let me pay"

I laughed and said, "Thanks."

He was gone for a little while. He came back with two bottles of Butterbeer and we started to drink them. It was nice to sit there with him, not needing to worry about Bludgers or dropping the Quaffle. Just him and me.

As we sipped our drinks Polly walked in. She looked a bit scared.

Charlie and I exchanged looks and asked her to join us. "What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Oh, it's nothing, but Malfoy asked to give this to you," she passed me a piece of parchment. "You don't need to read it now."

Then she left, just like that. I put the piece of parchment in my pocket and kept drinking my Butterbeer. I could tell by Lynch's face that I wasn't the only one wondering what the piece of parchment said.

We headed out of the Three Broomsticks about an hour later. He put his arm around my shoulder and I smiled at him.

Everywhere we went people kept looking and saying things like, "Hey, that's Lynch and Potter!" or "Are they going out now?" and "They make such a cute couple."

We decided to go to the Shrieking Shack. It was supposed to be the most haunted place in all of England. But I knew the truth. It's where my grandfather's friend, Remus Lupin, Teddy's dad, used to transform every full moon. He was werewolf.

"Wow... It looks about ready to crumble, doesn't it?" I told Charlie.

"Yeah, I guess having a werewolf transform in you could be damaging," he remarked

"Did Al tell you? That boy can't keep a secret if his life depended on it!"

Charlie laughed. "What?" I said.

"You," he answered.

"What about me?"

"You make me laugh."

I pushed him playfully. He laughed again. "Stop laughing! You're going to make me laugh!" Well, that wasn't successful. He just laughed twice as hard making me laugh. "How can I get you to stop laughing?"

"Like this," he said. He came closer to me and kissed me.

Click! "What...?"

A strawberry blond Ravenclaw was standing there with a camera. "Whoa! What are you doing?"

"Taking a picture, what do you think I'm doing?" she said sarcastically.

Well now that she'd taken that picture I wouldn't doubt it if by the next day they were everywhere. "Why are you taking our picture?" I asked.

"To confirm the rumour that's been going around."

"It's been like, half a day that we've been together."

"It's a boarding school for people from eleven to seventeen. What did you expect?"

It was hard not to agree with that statement. Hogwarts was a place where rumours were almost as frequent as classes. And if you wanted something kept secret, the whole school found within five minutes.

As it started getting darker we made our way back to Hogwarts. It would suck if we missed the feast.

We walked in to the Great Hall, every single eye on us as if they were waiting for us to do a trick. "Um... hi?"

Charlie looked at the audience and smirked. He turned to me and kissed me, but this time it was longer than the other two. When we broke apart the Hall burst into applause. Well, the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables did. The Slytherins sort of sat there looking extremely bored.

"I'll see you later," he said as he went to sit with his friends. They patted him on the back as though he'd just won the lottery. I headed towards Will, Jeremy and Sri and sat down. They just stared at me. "What!" I said. They didn't say anything. "Stop staring at me!"

"Why didn't you tell us?" asked Jeremy.

"I told you I was going to Hogsmeade with Charlie yesterday!"

"But you didn't say you were dating!"

"Grow up, Jeremy! Lily's the most beautiful girl in Gryffindor, what did you expect?"

I hated getting complimented indirectly. I never knew what to do. "Well, I'm not too sure about that..."

"Who's more beautiful than you?"

"You are!"

"Well since the two of you are so busy arguing over who's more beautiful I thought I'd point out that Professor Pencaple's gone again," Jeremy said.

"What?" we chorused at the same time, craning our necks to get a better look at the teacher's table.

"This is starting to get weird. It's never happened before!"

"He's probably just doing stuff with the Ministry," Will said before stuffing his face with mashed potatoes.

I was still craning my neck to get a better look. I started to lean out a bit. I went too far and fell off the bench. "Ow..."

"Are you okay?" asked Jeremy as he gave me his hand to help me up, obviously trying not to laugh.

"I'll live."

"Hey, you dropped something," Will pointed at the piece of parchment from Scorpius. He picked it up and handed it to me. "What is it?"

"It's a note from a friend." I answered. "Well, at least I think we're still friends."

I opened it up a read it. It was an apology.

_Dear Lily,_

_I'm sorry for shouting at you; I hope you aren't too mad._

_Meet me at that place tomorrow at nine o'clock pm._

_S_

I smiled, relieved. He wasn't angry at me, I think. "What does it say?" Sri was trying to read the note over my shoulder but I folded it up and pocketed it. "Something that's a bit of an inside thing."

"Oh, ok, whatever." And she started eating some kidney pie.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

We were on the Quidditch field, just staring at each other.

"So, Potter, are you gonna start or what?" Scorpius asked me, a sword in his hand.

Start what? I wanted to ask, but my voice wasn't working. I tried to speak again. No words came out. He charged at me. Before he reached me there was a flash of green light. Scorpius fell and I saw a man with scarlet eyes and two slits for nostrils, like a snake. I didn't need any one to tell me who this was. Finally my voice started to work. I whispered, "Tom Riddle."

"How nice of you to drop by. So, the Chosen One's daughter is this?" he signalled all of me.

I felt scared, and I knew that If my father was here his scar would be killing him. Or was it right now, in the middle of night?

The scene shifted. I was in the Great Hall, except everything was set up for our OWLs. A Ministry wizard whom I'd never seen in my life sat me down at a desk. There was a giant piece of parchment on it.

"Please begin, Miss Potter," the Ministry wizard said in a monotone voice.

I looked at my exam. The were all questions about ridiculous things I'd never heard of before.

"How old was William Shakespeare when he died."

Who the heck is William Shakespeare? I thought. And the Ministry wizard behind me kept on talking, which made it very difficult to concentrate. Suddenly his voice changed and became high and cold. It sent shivers down my spine. A white spidery hand grabbed my shoulder and said, "I believe in you Lily. Make your father proud."

I turned around and saw that Lord Voldemort was wearing normal wizard robes behind me, still clutching my shoulder.

"Excuse me?" I said.

"Come on, sweetie, write your test. I want to see Os on all your OWLs when we get the results."

I woke with a start, and sat bolt upright. I took deep breaths, trying to calm myself. Those were the weirdest dreams I'd ever had. Especially the last one. I stood up and headed downstairs to the common room.

I sat down in a chair closest to the fire, thinking. I'd never had any dreams, or nightmares, about Voldemort. But Voldemort wasn't the scariest part. It was the fact that Scorpius had tried to kill and, when he died, I didn't seem to even care. I calmed myself down again and stared at the fire. I heard a noise and jumped. A small house elf had just appeared inside the Common Room. She, I think it was a she, shuffled over to where I was sitting, not noticing me, and started to tend the fire. I watched her for a bit before I decided to go back to bed.

She didn't jump when I hopped off my chair. Frightened house elves totally piss me off. So I guess it's good that she didn't notice me.

I reached my dorm and saw something in the corner of the room. I hadn't seen it when I left. It moved and I almost screamed, until I realized it was Jimmie. He had a note tied to his leg. It read:

Dear Lily, I hope you receive this note while awake, so I won't feel bad about waking you up in the middle of the night.

Meet me in the Owlery please.

S

I put on a jacket, hoping he was in the Owlery now and that he thought I would get it in the morning. I exited through the portrait hole. I was almost at the end of the hallway before I realised that I was still wearing slippers, so I decided to go back and put on some actual shoes. I put them on and set off again.

I reached the Owlery, not really expecting to see anyone there. But, there he was. He was petting one of the school's barn owls.

"Are you insane!" I said. "What if I didn't come? What if you were here all night?"

"I would wait for a thousand nights if it were necessary…" he mumbled. "Sorry, sometimes I just blurt things out!" he quickly added.

"Don't worry, I hadn't heard you anyways." I lied.

"Oh, okay" he sounded relieved and depressed at the same time.

"So, anyways… Why'd you want me to come?"

"To be honest, I'm not really sure. I just had this sense, you know?"

"I totally know how you feel. It's a good thing I was awake I wouldn't want you to have been here all night in the freezing cold."

"Are you cold?" he asked me.

"A little bit, I wish I would've worn a warmer jacket."

Scorpius took his coat off and handed it to me. "Put it on," he ordered.

"What about you? Won't you be cold?"

"I've been through worse. What woke you up in the first place?"

"Strange dreams. Like insanely strange dreams."

"What kind of strange dreams?"

"Well, there was one where you got killed by Voldemort and then he started to criticize me. Then it changed and I was taking my OWLs and didn't know any of the answers and Voldemort was my father and he even called me sweetie!" I shuddered. "I'll never get that image out of my head."

He smiled at me. He moved forward a bit, then he stopped himself.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"You know how when I was talking about the girl I'd loved since I was thirteen?"

"Yeah?"

"I was talking about you."

I stood there shocked. "Well don't look so surprised!" he said. "I mean, I did kiss you on your birthday. Don't you remember? It was right after I gave you the ring and before I left to get on the Knight Bus."

Whaaaaaaat! I thought. I'd completely convinced myself that it had been a dream. That it was too good to be true, and then I had settled for Charlie. But I couldn't just break up with him and start dating Scorpius. That was a terrible idea. Besides, I wouldn't be able to take it if it didn't work out. Then again, if I didn't go out with him wouldn't it be worse? Would he turn into my biggest, "what if"?

"Aaaah!" I screamed.

Scorpius looked really hurt now. "Wow, thanks Lily. I didn't know that that was how you felt about me."

"No! That's not it at all! It's just that I'm really confused, and I'm really bad with these kind of things and…"

Scorpius came close to me and wrapped me in a hug. He was warm, and comforting. He smelled slightly like cologne. Just like my love potion! I thought. I'd smelled that, and the smell of my grandparents home. It would seem as though I really did love Scorpius. I started crying. I wished we would be able to stay like that forever. He grabbed my face and gave me a kiss. Then he apologised and said, "Sorry, I just thought I might as well do what I wanted to do when I called you here." He started to leave and at the doorway he said, "Forget about our meeting next week. It won't be necessary." Then he left and headed back towards the castle.

"Wait! You forgot your…" he was already out of earshot. "…jacket."

I sighed, way too confused for words. I headed outside and walked down the stairs. I walked to edge of the Black Lake and sat down. There hadn't been a blizzard yet and whenever it snowed it hadn't stuck so the ground was still green. I looked across the Lake. Soon it would freeze and people would skate on it. Mostly couples. Now I was really depressed and going out with totally the wrong guy. It would be stupid to break up with him after only one week. Who knows? I could grow to be crazy about him.

I started to feel sleepy; the sun had started to rise. It was Saturday morning. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

"Please!" I heard.

"No! We are not going to throw Lily in the lake Jeremy. That would be stupid!"

"It'd be funny!"

"And incredibly immature."

I opened my eyes. "There, now we won't need to throw her in the lake." Jeremy said.

"Thanks, Lily!" Jeremy pouted.

"What… did I…" I yawned, "do?"

"Jeremy wanted to throw you in the lake to wake you up. What the hell were you doing sleeping out here?"

"Oh, I fancied a late night stroll and I guess I must've fallen asleep. What time is it?"

"About ten thirty. If you hurry you could probably get some breakfast," Jeremy said.

I was pretty hungry. I got up and headed towards the castle. Will and Jeremy beside me. "Hey, where's Sri?" I asked.

"She needed to send some _secret_ letter." Jeremy answered. "D'you think she's gotten herself a boyfriend finally?" he added teasingly.

"Like your one to talk, smart guy. You don't even have a girlfriend" Will defended Sri.

"Uh, neither do you!"

"But I don't go around making fun of people because of it."

"Touché" Jeremy finished the conversation.

I sat on one of the benches and grabbed some juice, filling a goblet. Then I remembered how much I hate orange juice. I pushed the glass in Jeremy's direction. "Do you want it? I can't stand orange juice. It's kind of disgusting and it gives me heartburn."

"I know that," he smiled. "I was just waiting for you to give it to me."

I grabbed a plate and put some eggs and sausages on it. I started eating, remembered why I'd been outside in the first place, and lost my appetite. Great, now I was going to be depressed all day long.

"What did he do this time?" Jeremy asked.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I lied.

"Come on Lily, I've known you since we were both toddlers. I can always tell when you're feeling down, and so can Will."

"He's right," Will agreed.

"And same with Sri. Guys actually do have feelings you know. We can tell when girls are feeling bad. That is, unless you're stupid like Malfoy."

"It's nothing he did. It's something I did. I made a huge mistake. I never should've gone on that walk with Charlie. Now my life's totally screwy!"

"You don't even like Lynch as much as you love Malfoy," Will pointed his fork at me.

I blushed, "What do you mean?"

"Oh _please_! If you wanted to be more obvious you'd have to make a giant billboard that said 'Lily Luna Potter loves Scorpius Malfoy'. Anyone who spends five minutes with you two can tell that you're in love. Which are basically only your brothers, Jeremy, Sri and I."

"You seriously think so? But I don't want to hurt Charles. I mean, we have only been dating for a week. It would seem like those stupid couples who're twelve and they only go out for short periods of time to say they have a girlfriend or boyfriend. I would seem totally lame!"

"You already are lame," Jeremy pointed out.

"Wow, thanks, I feel so much better now!" I retorted sarcastically.

"Sorry, that was sort of mean. Anyways, you gotta dump Lynch. I didn't like him that much. Always thought he was annoying."

I sighed, staring at my eggs. I started playing with my food, not really sure if I was hungry or not. I put some food in my mouth again and decide that I was hungry. Extremely hungry.

"So what are you two doing for the holidays?" Jer asked.

"I'm going to Romania with my family, we're visiting my Uncle Charlie. Did you know it's been five years since we last saw them? Crazy right?"

Will said, "I'm going to Switzerland to ski. I'm going to the Alps. My sister's wanted to go since she was a little girl. She thought it was pretty."

"Your sisters coming here next year right?"

"No, she's not a witch. She would've started this year. At first she was a bit disappointed, but now she doesn't really mind. That's one of her greatest qualities I guess."

"That she's a Muggle?" Jeremy asked, puzzled.

"No, that she doesn't dwell on anything bad for too long."

"Well I'm going to be having the better Holiday than either of you. I am, wait for it… Going to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas!"

We clapped, laughing and Will joked, "Lucky git! I wish my hols could be as great as yours!"

"I think Sri's staying too, so I guess she'll keep me company when you're in Romania and you're at the Alps."

"Really? I thought she was going home."

"No, something happened and she has to stay at school."

"Oh, that sucks."

"No it doesn't. She has wonderful _me_ to keep her company!"

We all laughed and finished breakfast.

I stood at the door of his dorm for about ten minutes before I turned around saying, "I can't do it."

"Of course you can!" Sri said. We'd told her about our conversation at breakfast.

"No I can't! I'll sound fickle and really lame!"

"You sound.."

"Yeah I know lame anyways!" I cut her off. Today my ego certainly wasn't growing.

"So, go!"

I knocked on the door and Sri ran out of sight. Lynch opened the door.

"Uh… hey can I talk to you?" I asked lamely. I totally was making it _way _too obvious I was about to break up with him. "I don't think we can see each other anymore."

"Have you met someone else or…" he asked

"Well… sort of. Not really… I mean… Oh Merlin this is hard for me!"

"Oh! I know who it is! It's that Slytherin isn't it? I was hoping maybe you would at least settle for me. Guess I was wrong." He sounded awful.

"I'm-"

"Save it!" he cut me off. "Don't apologise. It'll just make it worse."

He slammed the door.

I walked down to the common room and Sri almost pounced on me.

"That was very quick. So… was there any crying involved."

"Thankfully no, but he seemed very upset. Is it mean for me to hope that he'll kick me off the Quidditch team? "

"Yeah, it is." She paused for a second. "But both of us know that isn't going to happen. You have the quickest broom on the team, even if you aren't the greatest player."

I sighed, hating how she was always right.

"So, are you gonna go out with Scorpius now?" she raised her eyebrows seductively.

"What? No! You can't just break up with someone and start going out with someone else in the same day."

"Why not? They do that in the movie industry all the time."

"Yeah, but those people are stupid."

"Not everyone. Some of them are cool!"

"Whatever I still think they're stupid. Besides the girl shouldn't ask the guy out."

"What! That's not true. My mom asked my dad out and now they're married."

"And had she just broken up with her previous boyfriend the same day?"

"Well, no. Okay, so maybe you should wait a bit."

"Yeah I sort of want to be single for a while. Too much guy drama going on whenever I go out with a guy. Remember James?"

James had been a guy from the states and I'd gone out with him last year for about five months. It didn't end well. He threw a type of fit and then tried to slip me a love potion.

"Yes I remember him. But wasn't he mentally unbalanced or something?"

"Yeah… But I only found out two weeks after we broke up."

I found a chair and sat down, wondering what the future held for me.

**Note: Hey guys, sorry I haven't written in 6 months. I went on vacation and then the computer I was writing on broke down. And then I wrote this chapter and someone was reading it and forgot to save it so… after all this time here it is!**


	9. Christmas

**Chapter 9**

**Christmas**

Christmas. My favourite holiday of the year came quicker than anyone expected it to. Our teachers still piled on the homework, making it almost impossible for anyone to get anything other than tat done. I still felt guilty about breaking it off with Lynch. I tried to resign so that it wouldn't be awkward for the rest of the team, but that almost caused a riot. I don't get it though, because my broom may be the fastest but I'm not the best player in Gryffindor. I stopped trying to resign after attempting it for two weeks and just lived with it.

It was the fifteenth of December when we were allowed to go home. Jeremy and Sri were staying at school, but Will and I went home. We sat together on the train, talking about stupid stuff and laughing at the least funny things in the world. Something tells me that we'd had too much sugar.

Halfway through the ride a head peered in. It was our first year friend, Rachel. "Oh sorry," she apologised embarrassed, she turned around and left with a blond boy. Soon, I realised it was Mark and wondered what they were doing together, guess they were friends.

We reached King's Cross and I my parents were waiting for my brothers and me. I said goodbye to Will and went through the magical barrier that lead into the Muggle world.

We got into our car and drove home.

"All right children get packing!" Mum said. "Tomorrow we go to visit your uncle in Romania, so get moving."

I went up to my room and sat on my bed. This was the first Christmas I'd ever spent out of Hogwarts. Usually Jeremy, Sri and I would hang out and Will would go somewhere with his family. He hadn't spent a single Christmas at Hogwarts. It's not like he was missing out on much though. All you do is sit around, talk, go outside and have a feast on Christmas day. Then sit around, talk and go outside some more.

I went upstairs and was surprised to see my window was open. "What the hell…?"

I saw Alexandrite's head pop in the window and for the first time in a while remembered I owned a dragon. I walked over to the window and patted her head, hoping she wouldn't get the sudden urge to burn everything in my room. I headed downstairs, got the biggest raw steak and when I got back in my room I fed it to her. "Too bad I can't take you with me," I sighed. She looked sad at this. "Don't worry we can spend the whole day together after I'm done packing." That cheered her up a bit. I'd never really thought of dragons as anything but big dangerous creatures before this.

I packed up all my stuff and closed my trunk.

I went to put on my coat and then realised I had packed it. _You're kidding me!_ I thought. I opened my trunk and unpacked a few things, cursing myself for being stupid enough to pack my coat, and not having it being the most accessible item in there. Sometimes I can be really thick.

I re-packed my other stuff put my coat on, and headed downstairs into the kitchen. "James, have you seen my mitts?" I asked.

"Well, if you're looking for mittens, the kitchen isn't exactly the best place to look. They'd probably be in the front hall or something."

"They're not there. I checked before when I came down for food for my pet"

He just shrugged, obviously not wanting to help. He was too busy raiding the fridge. "How can guys eat so much? I mean you'd think you and Al had a hollow leg or something."

"High metabolism?" he said his mouth full of food so it sounded more like "Figh motablum?"

I just rolled my eyes and continued looking for my mittens. I looked all around the house and finally found them in my closet.

I put them on, along with my school scarf and my black tuque. I headed out the back door that we'd built when we'd renovated the house and stepped into the snow. I smiled, loving that I was on holidays. Walking over to Alexandrite made my toes cold and I shivered. I decided to try to climb oh her back. Her scales were warm and I warmed up quickly. "You're very tame, you know that?" I whispered to her. Smoke puffed from her nose and I smiled, really relaxed. "I wonder if I could fly you," I said more to myself. Her eyes lit up, (can dragons eyes light up?) and she positioned herself for a take-off. "Wait! That's not what I-AAAAAAH!" I screamed as we took off and I tried not to fall off. We shot through the sky. I closed my eyes hoping we would land soon. The ride seemed to slow down and I dared to open one of my eyes. The scene was breathtaking. Everything was covered in a layer of snow that glinted in the sunlight. It looked like someone had ground up a million diamonds and sprinkled them over the forest. I hugged Alexandrite, "You really are full of surprises." Of course, she probably heard the word _fly_ and just took off but she had just giving me a wonderful Christmas present. We reached the edge of the woods and she turned around, heading back home. The wind cut through my skin but the heat from her body kept the rest of me warm. The sun had started to set by the time we got back home. I got off and kissed her neck, burning my lips. I went inside, my stomach rumbling.

"Where were you?" Al asked me as soon as I came inside.

"Out flying," I smiled, the wonderful feeling of riding a dragon still lingering over me.

"No one saw you did they?"

"No. No one lives in the woods. So, don't worry."

"Yeah, Al calm down," James added ruffling Al's hair up.

"Stop it!" he complained.

These guys are out of control, I swear one day it's going to get them into trouble.

He laughed and didn't stop, he stopped ruffling his hair and moved on to a noogie.

"AGH! Uncle, uncle!" he yelled and James immediately stopped. "Don't ever do that again!" he growled.

James laughed, while this was going on I decided to leave.

I lied on my bed and looked at my ring. _How could I ever think that it had all been a dream?_ I thought. I pushed the button on it and all the creatures sprang from it, filling my room with silver light. I smiled before realizing that I hadn't spoken to Scorpius since our last meeting at the Owlery. I sighed, knowing that it was easy to avoid him since we were in different years. I was relieved and disappointed at the same time.

My life was a total mess and it was entirely my fault. Something told me that I was going to curse myself a lot over the next few weeks. I guess when you're as stupid as me you become accustomed to cursing yourself and start to know when you've been extremely dumb.

Mum called for dinner. And I headed down to the dining room.

We all ate in silence, seeing as my parents weren't too chatty and James, Al and I were all half asleep. I just played with my soup and stared at my ring, day dreaming. I finished up and went back up to my room. It was already dark out and I lay down on my bed. I pressed the small button on the silver ring and watched as the silver figures filled the room and I fell asleep.

When I woke up the next morning the sun was just coming up. I climbed out of my bed and looked out the window. My first day of the Christmas hols and I didn't even sleep in. I think I'm getting dumber every day. I walked into the kitchen and poured myself some cereal. I headed back upstairs and got dressed. Then I put on a coat and some boots. I headed out the back door into our yard and sat down where Alexandrite was asleep. I heard a loud _pop_ and jumped. I looked around, but no one was there. _Must've been my imagination_ I thought. I started to sing. I don't do it very often but when the mood strikes and no ones around I sing the soft tune of _Fearsome and Wonderful_ by Opal, The Witch. It's a song about a girl in love with a boy that's frightening at first but after talking to him she realizes how great he is.

I think back to me first year at Hogwarts. Jeremy and I finding a compartment… Will getting shoved inside with us along with his twin brother. Getting sorted into Slytherin and making plots with Scorpius late into the night in the Room of Requirement. And then I think to our second year when I met Sri. They changed into Gryffindor when they realized the Sorting Hat had been cursed by that lunatic that I mentioned at the beginning. I don't know what he thought he would accomplish by that. In my third year I'd started noticing Scorpius. How he always fought with my brother, how he would snarl at me in the hall way, and how I once caught him staring at me during lunch. Oh, young and innocent me who didn't understand the concept of love while everyone around her was noticing other people. Sri had started going red whenever she saw my brother. Jeremy and Will were just as clueless as I was though. Fourth year, the year I spent three weeks in the Hospital Wing because of some stupid venomous bite. I don't even know what creature bit me. Madame Seifert refused to tell me. It was really annoying because I had to do all my homework alone and it got very quiet and spooky at night. That was also the year I'd dated a weirdo who tried to slip me a love potion. Thinking back on all this made me realize how little I had accomplished in life and it made me feel like a loser. Alexandrite opened her eyes and I felt like talking to someone. "How do you think we'll get to Bucharest? Portkey? Brooms?"

She just looked at me with her yellow eyes and didn't say a thing. She was a really quiet dragon. I heard the loud _pop_ again and jumped. Again, I convinced myself it was all in my head.

I went back inside and took off my winter stuff. Everyone else should've been waking up around then and all I wanted to do was to go back to sleep. I headed in to the kitchen where Mum was frying some eggs and sausages. I sat down by the table and sighed.

"How are we getting to Uncle Charlie's house?"

"Portkey, Dear." She smiled at me. "We'll be leaving at around quarter to eleven so I think it would be best if you woke up your brothers."

"Do I have to?"

"Now."

I headed upstairs and knocked on James' bedroom door. No answer. I opened it and found James lying half naked on his bed with the sheets only covering his torso. I rolled my eyes. He always looked like a drunken seventeen year old when he slept. I walked over to him and started shaking him; trying to wake him up.

He made a sound of protest and opened one eye.

"What is it?" he asked, slurring his words.

"Breakfast."

I left the room and walked up another flight of stairs until I reached Al's room in the attic.

The same thing happened here and I went back downstairs.

I sat at the table and started to nibble on some toast. Soon my brothers came downstairs as well. They started to shovel back food in an utterly disgusting way. I decided to leave.

Within the next five hours we'd made it to Romania and said all our "Oh hello!" s and "Oh my! You've grown so much!" s.

Timothy's twenty one and works alongside Uncle Charlie with dragons. His hair is sandy blond and his yes are blue. Almost every girl in his class in school had a crush on him at least once. Glen's nineteen and he works for the Ministry here. He's some kind of intern or something, I'm not really sure. His hair is a dark chestnut and so are his eyes. Glen is eighteen. He's unemployed at the moment because everywhere he applies they don't like the idea of an English person working there. He wants to work in a particularly strange job. His eyes are green and his hair is mud brown. Justin is sixteen and still at school. He also has blond hair and blue eyes. He showed me a picture of his girlfriend a few minutes after arriving. She's actually really plain and she's short. She looks like she weighs about one hundred and twenty pounds. Not bad if you're five foot two. Tilly, Shayna and Billy are all fourteen. Tilly's hair is red and her eyes are blue. We're almost identical. Shayna's hair is black and her eyes are blue as well. Billy's another blond hair blue eyes guy. Uncle Charlie's family is definitely the one that looks the least like they are Weasleys. Aunt Pauline's genes are probably stronger because most of the people definitely look more like her side of the family.

The next week went by fast, yet uneventful.

On Christmas Eve I was lying on my bed and heard something coming from my window. I tried to ignore it. I heard it again. I looked over and saw that someone was throwing stones at the window. I opened it ready to yell at some kids, not really thinking about the fact that they probably wouldn't be able to understand me.

I stuck my head out the window and a familiar smell filled my nostrils. All the way from the second floor. I close my window and run outside my window.

"What are you doing here?" I asked Scorpius.

"I wanted to give you this," he handed me a package. "I was going to give it to you the one morning, but I overheard you saying that you'd be spending he holidays here."

I opened the gift. "It's a locket." I said. "It's beautiful. I'll put it on right now."

"Let me," he smiled. I turned around and held my hair up. He put the locket around my neck and clasped it together.

I turn around to face him. I don't care if my family's inside, I want to be outside. I kiss him without thinking. These kisses are always much more satisfying than Lynch's were, but they also seem to cause more trouble. He kisses back.

I smiled at him. "You're parents will wonder where you are."

"I don't care," he smiled back.

"Go home… Be with your family. I'll see you in January. We still have months of school ahead of us."

He kissed my cheek and Disapparated.

"So… who was that?" said a voice behind me.

I turned around and gasped. I could barely see Justin's blond hair but it was obviously him.

"Is he your boyfriend?" he asked seductively.

I almost said, "None of your business." But I guess was too happy and said, "Yeah… He's my boyfriend."

He smirked. "Is it a secret?"

"Um… maybe for now, okay?" Then a wave of realization hit me. "WHY WERE YOU SPYING ON ME!" I screamed at him.

He laughed and answered, "I was taking out the rubbish. By the way, that locket looks like it was expensive. You should get him something really nice in return."

"I guess so…"

We went inside. I sat on my bed and fell asleep right away.

The next morning I woke up to banging on my door. "Wake up you lazy bum! Everyone's waiting for you!"

"Shut up, James!" Did I ever mention how grouchy I get when I'm sleepy?

I put on a bath robe and headed downstairs with him.

"Well, look who's finally awake!" Uncle Charlie joked.

I sat down at the breakfast table. "What's for breakfast?"

"Pancakes and bacon. We're going to be American today." Said Timothy.

"We're being American? I didn't know that eating pancakes and having bacon was being American but… okay."

We ate and then opened presents. It was a wonderful Christmas.

The only problem was, the rest of the stay I couldn't help but think of how much I wanted to be back at school.


End file.
